Grandparents Advocate for Grandchildren

The Best Thing Experienced Parents Can Do for New Parents

From The New York Times – April 26, 2019. Timothy Egan – Opinion

Be an advocate for better day care and paid parental leave. One day, your grandchildren will thank you.

As a new grandparent, you may be lucky enough to do some of the advocating that your overworked children cannot. I say “may” because many of the new grandparents I know have been drafted into full-time day care, with time for nothing else. In more than half the states, child care costs more than tuition at a public university, which is already too high to launch a life.

During World War II, the federal government subsidized nationwide day care centers to help the 6.5 million women who joined the work force. These places included doctors, nurses, even personal grocery shoppers. It would make the French — who put us to shame with their way of raising de-stressed, minimally fussed-over, healthy children of parents on expansive maternity and paternity leaves — envious.